What Your house cleaner knows about you

House Cleaner Confessional

Do you spend time on self-care? Are you organized? Are you in a relationship? We spoke to professional cleaners to find out how much they learn about you from your surroundings, your stuff, how you present it, what you conceal and just how tidy it all is—without snooping, of course.

“People who clean other people’s homes on a regular basis are in a unique position to peek into their lives,” says Bryan C., an independent cleaner who has worked in other people’s homes for almost 30 years.

House cleaners not only know how to clean everything—they also work in their clients’ most intimate spaces. Regardless of their cleaning schedule, they pick up on a lot. “You absorb hints about who that person may be and what’s going on in their lives,” says Bryan. A client with a type-A personality, for instance, might have given their house a quick clean before their housekeeper arrived—a polite habit house cleaners actually dislike.

While it is true that small habits can reveal a lot about your personality, this detective work is by no means an objective, formal science, but more like a casual and curious examination of clues, says Susan Shehata, a wellness expert known as The Space Guru.

Your Space Says It All

“A space does reveal so much about what’s happening in our life,” Shehata says. “Our spaces are a mirror of all our goals and obstacles, and in them, we’re going to find reflections of our pain and trauma, our past and present aspirations, our values and really very crucial aspects of our identity.”

So, are housekeepers noting all that? Do you need to clean up your act? Or can you sweep it all under the rug? Here’s what professional cleaners notice about you.